Swanbourne and finding us

Farm News

“After the wettest harvest ever, the farm has at last finished harvest. The final crop to bring in to the barn was field beans, which although wet were of fairly good quality. Normally these go for animal feed, but may well be good enough for export to the Middle East (probably Egypt) for human consumption.

Most of the crops were extremely wet, so we had to work through the night to harvest the wheat (culminating in a fire in the grain store, bravely extinguished by farm staff before the fire brigade arrived)! We are now busy ‘working down’ the ground for next years crops. We have already planted next years oilseed rape, but this has all rotted in the ground, due to the wet weather, or been eaten by slugs, so will be replaced by oats or beans.

The sheep and cattle are well. At least the wet weather has meant lush grass growth, so with a fair autumn, the cattle should be able to stay out in the fields for quite a while. We have scanned the cows, and nearly all which have run with the bull are in calf.”